Ursa
Ursa is a recently runaway tiefling slave. She fled the palatial estate of her former owner, Governor Trask Bluksaes the Third of Vagaldur. Her time with the 'Mad Governor' has unlocked strong magics within her. Ursa managed to live on the streets for months off of the items she had stolen during her escape. That was, until she was kidnapped by pirates. She uses her charm, looks, and sea sorcery to get by. Statistics Training Ursa has picked up a varied skillset while being enslaved. She learned how to dress herself and others for various kinds of events and cultures. While this seems silly, she can use it to disguise herself and make herself either more enticing or frightening. Her biggest skill asset is talking. She has learned the value in learning what others around her want and expect of her. She has an uncanny knack for getting people to like her during a quick conversation. When needed, she can rain down a deathly fury that enstills fear into the hearts of those who witness. She is also a very talented liar, but generally prefers to avoid lying as much as possible. The crew of the Dying Silver Light have taken on the challenge of trying to help teach Ursa all sorts of skills. Reading being the primary one. Captain Ur'tor has taken Ursa on as an apprentice for the time being. Languages Ursa speaks Common and Infernal. Common is obviously her second langue. She speaks with a light, vaguely foreign accent that is hard to place. She was moved around a lot and picked up a little bit as she traveled along. Being a slave, she hasn't been given any kind of a formal education. Because of this, she is illiterate. It is only after fighting a devil cult in the Port of Alvoru that Ursa learned that she could read Infernal. Physical Description She has a tall, thin frame with an hourglass figure. She has light blue, teal-ish skin and a little mole on her left cheek. Her hair is a wild tangle of red curls. Most would describe her as very beautiful. Unlike typical tieflings, she lacks the usual horns and tail. The magics of the sea seem to have twisted these around. Instead, she has solid white eyes that seem to glow in dim light. Her ears are long and the edges are jagged similar to the camouflaged fins of fish. There is a slight webbing between her fingers and toes. The only common tiefling physical trait she has are small fangs and a few other pointed bits along her molars. Magic Growing up, Ursa has had some magic abilities. She found she could freeze things. She has also noticed that the cold doesn't seem to bother her as much as others. Knowing how people reacted to tieflings, let alone magics, she has done her best to hide her abilities. It wasn't until the Governor put a strange, heavy collar on her that her true magic abilities came to light. Ursa is a sea sorceress, also known as being 'kissed by the sea'. Her powers seem to be a blessing from the goddess Umberlee. Some of the spells she can cast seem to be empowered by the sea. Lightning strikes harder. Cold freezes deeper. Wind blows with more fury. She also bares an uncanny resemblance to Umberlee herself. Her arcane focus is a troublesome item. It was an antique dwarven forged slave collar. Ursa has no idea why or how, but, this item was able to draw out the magic coursing through her. As wonderful as casting magic is, she hated the fact it was a constant reminder of all of her past trauma. She was able to get the item reforged with the help of her crewmates Panaxim and Gil. Now, instead of a collar, she wears a heavy silver torc. Each end being a clam shell. One of the clam shells hides the black pearl she harbors. The Black Pearl is an fragment of the unholy relic, the Crown of Asmodeous. The pearl itself is about the size of a large grape. It is black with a greenish sheen that shimmers no matter the light levels in the room. Ursa felt drawn to the pearl and couldn't stop herself from stealing it while she was escaping. She had thought about selling it, but felt a deep terror at the thought of someone else having it,. While Panaxim was studying the pearl, he was levitated, set on fire, then flung across the room. Ursa tried to despose of the pearl immediately after by chucking it overboard but was stopped by Panaxim and other crew members.The pearl is currently housed inside her arcane focus. Current Magic Items Wand of the War Mage Circlet of Blasting Potion of Healing Ring of Protection Tattoo of Protection - As a reward for completing the task of removing the devil cult in Alvoru, Captain Ur'tor preformed a ritual to imbue a sacride tattoo onto Ursa's back that giver her the benefits of Cloak of Protection. Personal History "What is it you want to know? My life? I, do not know if I can tell you all of it. It is not that I am afraid to. So much of it is a blur. I tried... to not be there much of it." Childhood Ursa doesn't remember to much about her earliest years. She knew she was on a ship constantly. There are no clear memories of her parents. She thinks her father smoked a pipe, wore nice robes. She isn't too sure who that was or if he was really her father. What she does remember is the night she was taken from her home. She was awoken suddenly and shoved underneath her cot, While she was hiding like she was told, she heard all of the screams of battle. Then, everything became silent. She has no idea how long she had hid under the cot. Eventually, men came in to search the room. When one reached under the cot, she bit his hand. Ursa was pulled out and taken to the other ship. Everything was covered in blood on the deck. The only thing she was able to keep with her was a tiny wooden top. The crew of pirates kept her locked in the hold and sold her off at the first port. It took her a few weeks to fully understand that no one knew what she was saying. After get measured and put on display, she was sold to a wealthy merchant family in Aelthara. She was kept as a 'doll'. Similar to being a hand maiden, they are kept as companions for children. She stayed with the family for many years. The mother and daughter taught her common along with skills for helping the daughter in her day-to-day life. As the daughter grew older, she became resentful of her 'childhood things' as teenagers do. Ursa was sold off after the mother found out that her older son was gaining an interest in the tiefling. Adolescence As she started to show signs of womanhood, the way others related to Ursa changed. She noticed it went from curiosity or fear to include more base desires. She changed hands among several houses in Aelthara. It seemed that the housewives did not enjoy the attention the servant girl was getting. Rumors spread about what trouble she was causing and how much of a homewrecker she was. A wife finally caught her husband making advances on Ursa. It was revealed afterwards that they had been having an 'affair' for months. Ursa's fiendish nature was blamed before she was sold off to an estate in Zarukthrar. A retired human adventurer paid to have her shipped across the known world. He admitted he 'wanted something pretty to look at in his last days'. She continued her services as a handmaiden, helping to tend to the old man. While he was rather brash, he did treat her better then any of her previous owners. He even taught her some skills with lock-picking and knives. While others commented that he was mad to do so, he had to admit he had grown a fondness for the girl. After he passed, he willed Ursa off to a friend of his in Niniel. The old adventurer wrote in his will that he believed his friend would protect Ursa from the dangers of the world. The friend was a powerful bronze dragonborn clan leader. This clan elder was rather annoyed at being 'gifted' the tiefling. Despite his complaints, he agreed to honor his friend's dying wish. It was quickly decided to retrain Ursa to be a handmaiden for a dragonborn warlord. Not only did she have to learn all new ways of doing everything, she was also drilled in some basic combat skills. The warlord was not about to have a servant that could not fight to defend their master. Adulthood Not long after getting settled into life with the dragonborn, she was shipped off to live with the son of the warlord in Watum Harbor. The son was slowly being given more responsibility and needed someone to help him. After arriving, Ursa realized that the son was not as into discipline as his father. She was quickly turned into a 'comfort girl'. She spent years at the side of the son going to various parties, plays, and gambling halls. Eventually, the son lost a lot of money. While he hated to lose Ursa, he sold her off for a very handsome pile of gold. This new owner was the Governor of Valgaldur, Trask Bluksaes the Third. Arriving at the Governor's manor in Valgaldur, she was thrown into his harem. Once among the other women, Ursa quickly figured out that this new owner was a dangerous, cruel man. Everything felt deeply unsettling. She had spent her life surviving as a slave, but, her continued survival felt like it would require her to leave. She waited for the best night to flee. Ursa dressed in the most expensive clothes and jewelry she could find. On her way out, she felt drawn to a strange black pearl. She stole that too. She had nearly made her way out when she was stopped by a guard. She was able to seduce him to get close to her so she could kill him. Ursa sold everything she stole, except the pearl, and used that money to buy passage on the first ship out of port. She spent what little she had to hop from ship to ship to get as far from Valgaldur as possible. Once the money was gone, she stayed in a small port. Ursa scraped a living prostituting and stealing food. Then, one afternoon, a gang of pirates kidnapped her off the pier. She was shanghaied into the crew of Captain Grof'thar, one of many ships in Captain Teek's naval fleet. Canpaign Events Shanghaied Cabin Boy After she was kidnapped by a load of pirates, she was brought before Captain Grof'thar. He explained to her that she was to work on the ship. If she did well enough, he would have her go before Captain Teek to see if she could become a proper part of the crew. The time she spent on board the ship was incedibly tense. It was made very clear to her that they either wanted to shag her or kill her. Sometimes both. Many of the crew complained that she was a bad omen on the ship. The man that despised her the most was the First Mate Othrell. No matter how extreme the threats became, they never crossed the line to actually harm Ursa. It seems that the Captain had set out a rule to leave her alone. She kept her head down and did her duties. This was mostly cleaning, odd jobs, and helping to tend to their prisoner, Ur'tor. After over a month of this, the ship docked with a few others of the fleet, including Captain Teek's. Teek came aboard as they were offloading a new set of captives. Teek explained that these hostages were 'princesses' and other nobility to be exchanged for randsom. One of the hostages mouthed off to Capatain Teek. He proceeded to rip the man's heart out and threw it at Ursa. She caught it out of reflex only to toss it in horror once Teek had left. The prisoners immediately set to trying to escape. Ursa had tried to cover for them and explain to them that if they just played along, they would get sent back home soon enough. She made a point of sleeping outside the door to the hold to keep the other crew members from messing with them. When the prisoners attempted to escape, she was torn between helping them get their freedom and her desire to not get killed by the crew. During the struggle, she witnessed one of the prisoners, Aran, geet killed by a harpoon to the chest. She decided that this escape attempt was not going to end well. Her best chance to survivng and keeping the rest of the prisoners alive was to call the alarm for help. Gil had tried to stop her, but Ursa insisted on Gil trusting her. Gil let her go and Ursa went and rung the alarm bell. After the incident was contained, the crew argued with Captain Grof'thar about what to do about Ursa. Many saw her has a traitor and blamed her for the crew that had died. Grof'thar defended her, saying that her actions prevented more deaths. He promoted her to become part of the crew. The crew was not happy about this. Ursa was forced to tend to the dead. After that, she went to speak to the prisoners. She tried to explain why she had done what she did, but, they didn't seem happy with her either. She went to speak with Captain Grof'thfter that. She needed to know what he was thinking. She was trying to plan a way for the prisoners to be freed with as little bloodshed as possible. Ursa suspected they were going to have to kill every last one of the pirates on the ship. During their talk, Grof'thar revealed that he had ordered the crew to not mess with her because he had hoped that they would grow to respect her. He had seen her on the pier and had become infatuated with her.